Notes: These ships
were noted as being a "novel Finnish variant" of the coastal
battleship type. They were rather box-like in construction, and were
noted as having a slow yet pronounced "roll" in heavy seas; it
was noted that the firing of salvos could be coordinated with the
roll. Later, bilge keels were fitted in an attempt to reduce the
roll. Their main battery guns were manufactured by Bofors.
The main armament had an elevation of 50° and fired a 495-pound shell,
firing to a range of 36km (about 39,370 yds). Both ships were fitted with icebreaker
bows.
Upon her commissioning, ILMARINEN became the flagship of the Finnish Navy.

ILMARINEN and VÄINÄMÖINEN formed the core of the Finnish fleet, and
much of their value was as a "fleet in being", deterring the
Soviet Navy. As their main purpose was to defend the Finnish coast,
they took part in few offensive operations. On 25 December 1939,
ILMARINEN was attacked by Russian bombers; a near miss killed one crew
member and wounded seven more. On 22 July 1940, while supporting ground
troops, ILMARINEN was attacked by 18 Russian PE-2 bombers; two near misses
killed one crew member and wounded thirteen others. On 13 September 1941,
ILMARINEN and VÄINÄMÖINEN took part in "Operation Nordwind"; while returning to base,
ILMARINEN struck two mines (in a minefield laid by the Russian escorts
SNEG and TSIKLON) and sunk within seven minutes. Only 132 of
her crew survived.

(Note: additional information was found on-line at Finnish
Coast Defense Ships; many thanks to Jari Aromaa for this wonderful
resource!)